Santa Ana sophomore, Henry Waterman, trains with hope to run in 2020 Paralympics

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A sophomore in Santa Ana is undergoing Olympic training with the hope of making it to the 2020 Paralympics in Japan.

Henry Waterman was born with a birth defect - fibular hemimelia, which is an absence of the fibular bone. After 26 doctors across the nation looked over his case, his parents made the difficult decision to amputate his leg when he was only 2 years old.

"We wanted to make sure that when he was older he knew we did everything - every single doctor, or procedure, or options he had - because we had to make the decision for him," mother Kelly Waterman said.

But the loss of his leg created a huge heart for competition.

"I did martial arts and then Jiu Jitsu. Kids right before a match would say, 'Oh, it's going to be easy,' or something like that," he said.

Running at Mater Dei High School also changed the direction of his life. It was only supposed to be a way to stay in shape for football.

But as a freshman last year, he won the ambulatory division of the 200 meter run at the state championship in Fresno. Right after, a man from the Olympic training center in San Diego approached him.

Now, Henry is training for the Paralympics team and he hopes to make it to the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo.

He's inspiring others as fast as he gets down the track.